Akshaykumar Ramanlal Desai

Akshaykumar Ramanlal Desai (26 April 1915-12 November 1994)was an Indian Sociologist[1], Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology in Bombay University| in 1969[2][3] and was President of Indian Sociological Society| (1980-81).[4]His most notable work is Social background of Indian Nationalism in which he offered a Marxist analysis of the genesis of Indian Nationalism during the British rule which created an impact regarding path to socialism in India.[5]He was honored with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru National Award Social Sciences by Government of Madhya Pradesh, India in 1987.[6]He was President of the fifteenth All India Sociological Conference held at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh , India in 1981.[7]

He completed his graduation in Political Science and Economics in 1935 and after completing LLB became a practicing lawyer in 1943 to help those in movements.He got his PhD under Dr G S Ghurye in 1946 and began his career in Sociology as a college lecturer in Bombay in 1946 .In 1951 he became a faculty member in the department of sociology in Bombay University.During his tenure in Bombay University he guided about 28 researchers in various subjects. He wrote both in Gujrati and English and many of his works have been translated into other languages.He was invited to participate in the first world congress in Rural Sociology held in France in 1964.In 1971 he visited the Soviet Union as a senior fellow under Cultural Exchange Program , participated in a seminar in Columbia Universityin 1976 after his retirement from the University and 1977 and visited Bangkok for a seminar on Population growth and Economic Development in Sub-national areas He was deputed to Canada in 1980 by the University Grants Commission to the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute| Foundation.[3]

He was ICSSR Senior Fellow(1973-1975) and was its National Fellow (1980-85). He was member of various academic bodies and visiting committees approved by UGC and ICSSR. He was President of Gujrat Sociological Society in 1980 [3]

He consistently advocated and applied the dialectic| model in his sociological studies.He may be regarded as one of the pioneers in introducing modern Marxist approach to empirical investigations involving bibliographic and field research.Desai's works included a number of edited volumes on rural sociology, urbanization, labor movements, peasant struggles, modernization, religion and democratic rights and he also developed the field of political sociology in the 1960's.His study of the inherent contradiction and class character of the Indian National Movement was his important contribution of the pre 1950 era and his edited volume on Rural Sociology was a major turning point and pacesetter in the field of agararian studies. In an anthology he also included studies on peasant struggles carried out by historians and social scientists of diverse orientations. In many of his works he was vocal about the repressive role played by the post-independence capitalist state in India which violated the democratic rights of women ,slumdwellers, minorities,press, as also of Adivasis and Dalits while protecting the propertied classes [8] Desai viewed Indian society from a macro and meso perspective, much differently from the micro (village) perspective by studying structures like nationalism ,agrarian structures, classes, state,capitalism and peasant struggles.[9][3].He documented the history of the working class in India unknown or unrecorded before to which he included the entire oppressed sections of society selling their labor powers to the market to which he also included the struggles of unorganized workers.He also questioned mainstream sociology's conservative positions and presented an interdisciplinary viewpoint[10] He gave notice to the mainstream that Marxism had a place in sociology and also provided a forum for radical minded scholars to broaden their horizons of research.[11]